Canine Corner

I recently came across your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I don't know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog. I will keep visiting this blog very often.

Betty

http://smallpet.info

I appreciate you simple distillation of a complex subject. One of the things I'm wondering: do you think the artificial selection from humans has made dogs smarter in all three of the categories or favored some over others rather than a general increase?

How do natural dogs (wolves) stack up against domestic dogs in intelligence?

No worries if you can't answer the questions, just my thoughts after reading the article.

I really enjoyed this blog and the one on why dogs love to roll in disgusting smells. We have two dogs who are very different but intelligent in their own ways. One is a good hunter - she was a stray for sometime before we adopted her and she obviously developed the ability to feed herself in the rural area where she was found. While feeling a bit sorry for the mouse or gopher she catches, I can't help but admire her skill. She looks just like a coyote when she jumps into the air and pounces.
The other is a bossy, noisy, sociable, affectionate little mutt whose self-imposed jobs are to announce dinner and visitors and "phoebe (the other dog) wants in".
In the realm of smells one prefers dead fish and dead ducks while the other prefers cow manure. Amazingly he found some fresh manure where we have never seen any cows. (We live in a rural area.) Oh well! at the moment our house is redolent of the odour of the barn. Baking soda brushed in and out again, helped somewhat.
This blog is going to be regular reading now that I have discovered it. Thanks.

I'm amused by the list of intelligent dogs in your book. Using the AKC judges as a source misses some very important aspects of intelligence. There are some dogs that have something akin to a sense of humor - I'm familiar with Australian Shepherds, and they often do poorly in traditional obedience work because sometimes they get an attitude, or think that there's some opportunity to play a joke. I've seen Australian Shepherds that turned into obedience stars in front of big crowds, and I've seen others do something decidedly contrary in the same situation, reveling in the sounds of surprise and laughter.

I'd love to see a more complex exploration - obedience isn't the be-all and end-all. I have an Australian Shepherd who's great at obedience if he's in front of a crowd, but one on one... not always so good. He's also been known to dig in and lecture me (wide stance, barking with many different bark lengths and pitches) when I get some part of the frisbee routine or soccer game wrong. I've seen many Australian Shepherds, German Shepherds, and Border Collies exhibit something that looks oddly like judgment in a wide range of situations. Many other dog breeds that I'd take into an obedience competition in a heartbeat, I'd not want in an ambiguous crisis situation.

I really enjoy your work. I've always had challenging dogs - dogs that had opinions in some situations, who would raise a ruckus if I made a mistake in some performing routine. Obedience is over-rated - I'll take a dog that can handle ambiguity over a perfectly obedient dog any day. (And I'll bet that there's a high degree of congruence between dogs bred to accomplish complex tasks and the ability to handle ambiguity.)

Was reading your good article on MSN homepage. As a dog lover, I found it really interesting. I did take one exception though and thought you might like to consider it.
My last dog was a Standard Schnauzer. He was a very loyal, very protective dog with what my family called a lot of personality. He would greet the family with howls, snoop in the refrigerator, be disgusted by his flatulence, and invent games to entertain himself. Among his colorful traits was an extreme protectiveness of my car (his car). He would bark and growl ferociously with his nose and mouth on the glass when the door was closed...even at family members whom he loved. When the door opened he would stop. The only person he wouldn't do this with was me. HOWEVER, if I looked in the glass directly at him and maybe moved quickly in somewhat of an aggressive way,he did look guilty. He wanted to bark but his loyalty and love for me stopped him. Poor guy, never saw a dog look guilty.
Anyway, just thought you might like to know that one owner is pretty sure her dog felt guilty.

i was wondering why social intelligence wasn't addressed when comparing dog intelligence. are there any breeds that are social dorks or would it be an individual trait?

i'm trying to not be bitter that my beloved beagle is 7th from the bottom. i think she is wonderfully smart. when she was a puppy she figured out if she scratched on the back door right as we sat down to eat dinner, my husband would scoot his chair back, walk to the door in the mean time she would run from the door, jump up on his chair, grab meat from his plate and then run out the door and into the yard before we could do anything about it. she planned that whole scenario out- i think that is a sign of intelligence.

What is the real difference between adaptive and working/obedience intelligence? Both require similar adaptation and problem solving skills, don't they?

Does working/obedience involves specific traits, such as interpreting human body postures and facial expressions?

For 14 years I had two dogs: a golden retriever, rated high for intelligence, and a basset hound, rated low for intelligence. I hadn't read any of your books then, but I always thought the basset was much smarter. The golden pretty much trained herself. She was house-trained by three months, for instance, and by 6 months would do anything we asked. The basset wasn't completely house-trained for two years, but she learned the same commands and tricks as the golden had done. The difference was that the golden would respond right away, and the basset might respond if she was so inclined. Her behavior was based on what was in it for her. If I was sitting on the couch with the golden, the basset would join us and gradually worm her way to be the one sitting next to me. If the golden was still chewing on a bone and she had already demolished hers, she would wait with apparent indifference until the golden was distracted then she would grab the bone.

I found this information interesting. I don't know where the West Highland White Terrier stacks up on the list but I would love to know. I have one and he is the most intelligent dog I have ever had. I'll tell him it is time to take a bath and he runs from the living room to the bathroom and jumps in the tub. I ask him to get his leash and he brings it to me. I tell him it is time to go night-night and he gets in his kennel and lays down. These are just a few things, the list goes on and on.

Do dogs have a sense of humor?

Our Doberman first started 'smiling' at about 1 year old. I later found out this is a breed trait - when they're happy they lift their lip. But sometime after our dog's second birthday I was up in the middle of the night with just a t shirt on. Dobie walks up behind me and pushes his nose in my behind causing me to jump. When I came down I turned and the dog was smiling - big, with his mouth open and breathing in audible breaths. He obviously got a kick out of the incident and since has looked for opportunities to repeat it - like he thinks its funny.